Matterhorn Glacier Ride II: One Year Until Opening

The Matterhorn Alpine Crossing pioneering project is becoming more and more concrete. The Matterhorn Glacier Ride II will start operating in about a year and thus complete the premium experience of the journey from Zermatt to Cervinia via the highest border crossing in the Alps. From the 2023 summer season, it will therefore be possible to travel dry-shod from Zermatt to Cervinia via the Theodul Glacier or vice versa. 

Vision becomes reality

The construction work is in full swing, the mountain and valley stations are getting bigger and bigger and soon the aesthetic aspects, such as enclosing the stations with wood, will also be addressed. For the time being, however, the warm weather will be used to complete the concrete work. The weather plays an important role at this altitude and can very quickly cause a delay in construction planning. 

Snow Xperience Plateau Pink

The new adventure world "Snow Xperience Plateau Rosa" around the valley station of the Matterhorn Glacier Ride II will be another highlight in the Matterhorn Paradise. Around the station's modern building, guests will be able to experience, among other things, a First Snow Experience, with all equipment available for rent on site. Snow tubing - which was previously offered in the Matterhorn Glacier Paradise at the mountain station - is now located at the valley station of the Matterhorn Glacier Ride II. 

Fly over the Alps

The feeling of flying will be even more intense on the four-minute ride on the Matterhorn Glacier Ride II than on the existing 3S Bahn. The reason for this is the very wide span that connects the valley and mountain stations. No masts are required for the approximately 363 meter difference in height. The modern cabins float above the Theodul glacier and, thanks to their excellent design, offer a breathtaking view.

The project

In order for the vision of a continuous, year-round connection between Zermatt and the Italian town of Cervinia to become reality, the construction team is required to work on the highest construction site in Europe. Building at 3,883 m above sea level M., in wind and weather, is no picnic. There is still a lot to be done before the “Matterhorn Glacier Ride ll” completes the entire route of the Matterhorn Alpine Crossing in spring 2023.

For 80 years, the two destinations Zermatt and Cervinia have been striving to merge via the mountain station on the Klein Matterhorn. After the first section of the connection was opened with the "Matterhorn Glacier Ride l" in autumn 2018, the second coup will follow in spring 2023: The last piece of the puzzle for the connection to the Testa Grigia station in Italy is to be completed via another 3S cable car, the «Matterhorn Glacier Ride ll».

Shortly after the opening of the first section, construction work for the second runway began. The main difference between the two railways is that the section currently under construction will have no supports at all. However, this hardly reduces the effort on the construction site. The height of the construction site, the prevailing weather conditions and the challenging logistics make the construction unique. The workers, an average of about 15 people at the top of the mountain and a total of up to 70 on the entire site including the valley stations, constantly have to contend with wind, snow and strong temperature fluctuations during their work. Then there is the thin air at almost 4,000 m above sea level. M. Site Manager Anton Lauber on the major project: "There is no comparable construction site in the world."

The construction of the «Matterhorn Glacier Ride ll» is divided into five phases:

Phase 1: The excavation

After the foundation stone was laid in 2019, the first construction phase for the “Matterhorn Glacier Ride ll” was completed in 2020. In this first phase, the excavation was done, rock removed and blasted where necessary, so that all the necessary installation work for the builder could be done. During the construction of the first section on the Klein Matterhorn, most of the rock excavation required for section two had already been completed, which significantly reduced the effort this time. Nevertheless, the work took nine months to prepare everything for the stations specially adapted to the rock. Because: Apart from the railway technology, nothing is standard in the construction of the two Glacier Rides, everything is made to measure.

Phase 2: Installation of the electromechanical railway technology

Phase 2 will start on the construction site in May 2022. The work in this phase includes all the necessary concrete work and the erection of the supporting structures to accommodate the electronic components. But even in spring, the work doesn't necessarily get any easier: the weather is and remains a challenge. Only after completing phase two, when work can also be done inside, will the work on the construction site become a little more pleasant for those involved. 

In phase 2, the "heart" of the new 3S cable car will also be installed: the electromechanics. Once all the appropriate components have been installed, the workers can assemble the actual railway technology. The number of workers on the construction site also increases during this phase when railway builder Leitner and his team arrive. The maximum number of people in the construction team will be around 70 people.

Phase 3 – Timber construction at the valley and mountain stations

Bis im Herbst 2022 sollen die Berg- und die Talstation nahezu fertiggestellt sein. Falls es durch die extreme Witterung keine weitere Verzögerung gibt, kann bereits im Sommer 2022 mit der Einhausung der beiden Stationen begonnen werden. Dazu zählen auch die Arbeiten für den Strom und die sanitären Anlagen. Auch wenn die Aufgaben in Phase 3 deutlich einfacher sind als in den vorangehenden Bauetappen, wird noch mit Absturzsicherungen und Fangnetzen gearbeitet – Sicherheit geht in jedem Fall vor.

In the third phase, around 45 photovoltaic panels will also be installed, which will provide a large part of the power supply in the mountain station in the future. To ensure that everything is correct from an environmental point of view, the construction site is regularly checked by an environmental construction supervisor. Flammable material and liquids, such as fats or oils, are reported in reports and safely transported away. 

Phase 4 - assembly of cable

The cable pull for the new «Matterhorn Glacier Ride ll» will be assembled in phase 4. This will be the case in the winter of 2022/23, when there is less activity on the glacier and less safety work is therefore necessary. The assembly will take about 4 weeks per rope. Even if the ropes are already in place, a total assembly time of around 20 weeks must be expected. 

The assembly of the ropes is difficult. The high weight as well as the securing and preparatory work are expensive. Anton Lauber: “Even if the actual pulling in of a rope only takes a week, this accompanying work is really tough work. » Six to eight specialists are on site to carry out the installation.

Phase 5 – cabins and commissioning, site finish and acceptance

In the spring of 2023 the time will have come: The "Matterhorn Glacier Ride ll" can be officially opened and go into operation. Passengers from all over the world can then easily travel from Zermatt to Cervinia, i.e. between Switzerland and Italy, without having to use any other means of transport than the cable car.

The last hurdle after the actual final work is the control of the Federal Office of Transport BAV. Everything structural, electrical and mechanical is meticulously subjected to final acceptance over a period of seven to ten days. Thanks to internal logs and test drives, the final blessing should be a mere formality.

You can already get a foretaste of the spectacular ride on the Matterhorn Glacier Ride II on the Matterhorn Alpine Crossing website: www.matterhornparadise.ch/alpine-crossing